This Moment

• I just made a smoothie with mango, basil and cinnamon and I’ve got 30 minutes until I pick up the boys from school. At drop off this morning, no one cried. All of this means, life is good.
• My wife has begun making a list of the things we need to do before the new baby comes. No one is pregnant.  I am thinking this list is not hypothetical. It may even exist somewhere on paper.
• After falling hard for his voice as a high schooler I will soon be in the same room with Pat Conroy. I can hardly believe it myself. I get to hear the man read. In person.
• It’s Halloween and not even the impending rain can dampen my excitement. I mean, I get to hang with these people.

• I just finished How to Talk so Kids will Listen & Listen so Kids will Talk (Adele Faber) and I’m all in. What an excellent resource. I’m going to start from the beginning and make some notes soon so I don’t forget it all immediately. Cannot recommend this one highly enough.
• After playing with the idea for years and years, I’ve finally started my own Memoir book club! We’re starting with Abigail Thomas’s A Three Dog Life.
• Although their shirt sizes have some spread, the boys are very close to the same pants size. Oh Yogi, my sub 30 lb three-year old.
• Potty training has proven itself an effective strategy for facing not just Yogi’s shit, but my own. Struggle is a generous giver, isn’t it? More on this soon.
• We’ve got letters on the brain around here. Yogi is very enthusiastic about each and every Y he encounters. All this wordiness just makes my heart sing.
• We have moved a pack and play into Yogi’s room. For Monkey. The new set-up happened yesterday and we’re looking at a mid-week kick-off. Room sharing here we come. Intimated by the potential for chaos, but excited. Mostly excited. For now.

Right Now

• Yogi is committed to being absolutely certain that I’m serious about my no throwing food rule. His commitment is so strong that he frequently has dinner on the porch.
• It’s looking like Monkey is coming down with some version of the stomach bug Yogi just recovered from.
• I’m hoping I don’t get it.
• Monkey spends many happy, drooly moments in his Bumbo sans safety belt. 😉
• Thanks to our generous neighbors and plenty of strategically placed blankets, he also has a bouncer to bounce in. See below.
• My wife has a terribly mangled hamstring, hasn’t run in more than a week, has no possibility of future runs on the horizon for quite.some.time and is continuing to show up for all of each day like the rock star she  is.
• I am reading The Devil in  the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood (Jennifer Traig) and thinking that it is fabulous. Obsessive-compulsive disorder, religion and memoir all rolled into one. Win!
• I have discovered Jeff Lewis and Flipping Out. It is possible that the Bravo network will be my undoing.
• I desperately want to see the new (thinking it’s no longer new at this point) Wes Anderson movie in the theatre. Actually any movie in a theater would be good.
• After the wild success of our trip to San Francisco, we are planning two more adventures. One to the beach (this will be a first for the boys) and one camping. Fun!!

We Survived the Summer!

Today was Yogi’s first day of school as a 2 year old. He’s still a Tuesday/Thursday morning guy, but he’s in a new room with new teachers and his very favorite friend from last year (Lily) has switched to MWF. I’ve been preoccupied with how he would handle the new environment and in classic Yogi fashion, he was a star. I got lost on the way to his classroom and was making spazzy conversations with the other parents on the way into the room, but he waltzed right in with neither lovie nor paci and headed straight to the elevated race track. He was almost too busy to be bothered when I hugged him goodbye.

When he started school last year he wasn’t walking or talking. Man does it go fast.

And this is my new T/TH morning companion. We haven’t really had much time to ourselves and I’m looking forward to Monkey and Mama time.

A Week in San Francisco

Yesterday afternoon we returned from a week-long trip to San Francisco. I was so anxious prior to the trip that I couldn’t even blog about it. Now that we’re all home, I couldn’t be happier that we took the plunge. My wife was making the trip for a conference and we all decided to go along for the ride. With a baby, a toddler, super-long plane trips and a crazy busy city, we decided to bring Nana (my Mom) with us. The five us had a fabulous time. I’m eager to write more extensively about the trip, but for now I’ll share some pictures.
One thing this trip had plenty of was ice cream. Yogi loved every last scoop.

Yogi has always loved these guys and so we were thrilled to meet actual starfish at the Aquarium at the Bay. He was even able to pet them!

Fun lunches with Mama and the boys. Monkey is hiding in the Ergo.

Yogi introduces Monkey to the wonderful world of plastic frogs.

This was just one of the cool things that we found at the Bay Discovery Museum. I am now entirely obsessed with this place and already want to return. Also, we went TWICE during a 6 day trip.

Mommy and Yogi share a picnic lunch in the kids play space at Yerba Buena Gardens. Do they not have exactly the same expression on their faces?

Monkey and Mommy do their morning push-ups.

Yogi makes some friends at the Children’s Quarter in Golden Gate Park.

3 Month Monkey

It’s been a milestone kind of week at my house. Monkey has finally exited the dreaded (for me) territory of infancy and entered smily, drooly babyhood. I could not be more relieved. His infancy has confirmed my status as someone who is not-so-great with infants. Now I’m not saying that I can’t provide good care, but providing that care absolutely overwhelms me. There is something about the all-consuming need of a newborn that sucks the air right out of my lungs. Terrifying doesn’t entirely capture the feeling. Now that the little dude has been around for awhile, he seems to have his own thing going and that comforts me. He giggles in his swing and stares at the fan with the kind of fascination that makes me hesitate before interrupting. There is most definitely a little person in there.

So far that little person is quite jovial. He has almost none of the little-old-man seriousness of his big brother and is pretty much all giggles, all the time. He LOVES kissing and shrieks when I grab him for cheek nibbles. He goes down for the night (in his crib – hooray!!) by 8 and wakes up twice during the night to eat. These feedings are usually at about midnight and then again at 4am. He’s up with everyone else in the house between 6 and 7 and is taking somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4 naps a day. Also he downs a 4oz bottle every 2-2.5 hours when my wife’s at work. The kid can definitely eat.

Momma Had a Date!!

With Mom of course!  On Friday night we went to my wife’s work holiday party and my cousin stayed home with Yogi.  Aside from the time we went to dinner to celebrate our anniversary during Yogi’s first month leaving him with her parents, this is one of the few times we have left home without him.  Of course he was a champ and gave his cousin no trouble at all.

As you might have noticed from the picture, I was pretty excited about the opportunity to wear something that didn’t involve sweatpants, wool socks and and a spit-up riddled t-shirt.   I absolutely love the heels, although I was a little concerned about the height.  Luckily, after a glass of wine I barely even noticed the pain.  I’m not usually a fan of an office party, but it was a fun night and a GREAT opportunity to get all dressed up.

Yogi’s New Crib???

No, unfortunately we have not adopted a cat.  This cat belongs to the current owners of the house that we are in the process of buying.  How great does that sound?!  The house that we are in the process of buying.  Very cool.

Earlier this week we had the inspection, which meant that I was able to get in  to the house and take lots and lots of pictures!  While my wife and her Dad hung out with the inspector, asking question after question about the important things like the roof and the quality of the HVAC systems, Yogi snoozed and I snapped away on the camera and furnished the house in my imagination.  There were also bagels from the local bagel shop that is only a short walk away.  Great fun was had by all.

There are a number of things that still remain to be worked out, the owner/builder is in the process of completing the bonus room, the garage and a bathroom, but the house never went on the market in the first place so much of this is to be expected.  The exciting part is that if we can come  to an agreement about what needs to be addressed, we could be moving into a house as early as February!  Stay tuned.

Yogi Update

Standing Tall

I can’t believe how much Yogi is growing.  I am aware of just how common this feeling is among new parents,  but it is just one of the many things about parenthood that turn out to be more true than you could ever have imagined.  In only 8 days, the little man will be 4 months old!  This picture was taken shortly after he hit the 3 month mark during an unexpectedly warm day when we met my wife post-run for a little neighborhood stroll.  He looks so tall in this picture.

So much has changed since the early days when I was wondering whether he would ever stop crying.  These days he is the most easygoing baby ever.  He can sleep anywhere and when he is awake, he is either laughing, smiling or eating.  My wife is sure he’s going to roll over any day now as he has become much more tolerant of tummy time and is actually able to hold his head up for a few minutes at a time.  His unexplained crying jags are very infrequent and when they do surface, he has become much easier to soothe.

My wife has the week off, so we are looking forward to lots of family time.